


Try the Lasagna

by TriplePirouette



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/M, Gen, post-ep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-21
Updated: 2013-01-21
Packaged: 2017-11-26 09:25:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/649078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TriplePirouette/pseuds/TriplePirouette
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Post- “In The Name of the Brother” Granny doesn't like Belle's order in the diner.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Try the Lasagna

**Author's Note:**

> I don't know where this came from. It just happened. Because Granny is sassy like that.

“I think I'll try a... hamburger!” Belle, or the girl who was once Belle, announced proudly at the counter of Granny's Diner.

 

Every day a little more of the girl she had been shined through, from her smiles to her laugh and the way she cautiously became more confident in their world. Ruby smiled sadly, nodding at Belle when Granny's voice boomed through the diner as she approached from the back.

 

“No.”

 

“No?” Ruby asked, turning quickly to her grandmother. Belle shrank back a little, her cautious bravery wounded by Granny's gruff manner. “Why not, we have a-”

 

Granny shook her head, staring at her granddaughter. “I said no.” Granny sighed, softening as she reached across the counter and took Belle's hand in her own. “I know that this is all very confusing for you right now, but you can't have a hamburger. Try the lasagna. Everyone loves it.”

 

Belle's eyebrows knit tightly as she grasped the elderly woman's hand. She's taken her in, nearly mothered her as she took slow steps into the word beyond the bleak cell she'd known. She trusted Granny as much as she could trust anyone in this town, more so even, but she puzzled her sometimes. “Why can't I have a hamburger?” Belle's voice was soft and lost, begging for guidance.

 

Granny shook her head and swore beneath her breath, holding the girl's hand tightly as she looked back into her eyes. “I may not be fond of the son of a bitch, but you were. You are, somewhere in there. Your first real date with him was right here in my diner where you had hamburgers that you half finished.”

 

Belle pulled her hand from the older woman's. “No, I- that's Mr. Gold. The man that... that...”

 

Granny barked out a laugh. “Yes, the Dark One. Rumpelstiltskin. He's a bumbling fool, apparently, who couldn't just explain things properly and rather decided that a stranger kissing you in your sleep was a good idea. But I can explain. I will, after we close I'll tell you everything I know, which sadly isn't much.” She picked up a menu and put it back in front of Belle. “I don't owe him anything, that's for sure, but you- well, you loved him, and everyone deserves to remember who they love.” She sighed, masking her emotions and swinging a rag over her shoulder. “Now, pick out anything else on that menu, but the next time you have a hamburger in this restaurant, you'll have it sitting across from him. Understand?”

 

Belle blinked quickly, confused by all the information that she'd received so quickly. She slowly picked up the menu, lip between her teeth as she nodded. “Alright,” she whispered, her eyes drawn to the section of hamburgers even though they were the only thing off limits to her.

 

Ruby pulled her grandmother away as Belle searched for something else to order. Her whisper was harsh and hurt. “What was that? She's afraid of him!”

 

Granny nodded, leaning into Ruby's space. “Exactly. From the moment you met Belle, for everything she knew about that man, did you ever see her afraid of him?”

 

Ruby shrank back, her eyes narrowing, “Well, no, but-”

 

“And did you ever see her flinch, even once?” Granny shook her head. “You remember the women in the village with their husbands. The whispers. You know just as well as I do what a woman afraid of a man looks like... _smells like_.” Her words hissed out in a whisper as they both peeked at Belle, sitting quietly, her finger drifting over the menu as she read. “Belle was never once afraid of him, never startled, never worried. Disappointed might be an understatement, but never afraid.”

 

Granny reached down, taking Ruby's hand as she continued. “My girl, she loves him. Deep in there somewhere, she loves him. And that bumbling buffoon loves her, any idiot with eyes could see it when they were together.”

 

Ruby's eyes fell as she grasped her Granny's hand. “Monsters deserve love, too,” she whispered, rote words Granny told her and she'd repeated to herself for years after she learned what she truly was.

 

“They do,” Granny agreed, turning Ruby back to the counter. “And Gods help the people who love them. We won't let her do this on her own, will we?”

 

Ruby stood straight, tucking her hair behind her ear. “No, of course not.”

 

Granny smiled, clearing her throat before standing tall and pushing Ruby back toward the counter. “Good. Now get that girl anything except for a hamburger.”

 

 


End file.
